Former Spanish referee Antonio Lopez Nieto has dismissed the idea that there was systemic corruption amongst referees during the time that Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira was Vice-President of the Referees Committee (CTA).
Lopez Nieto, currently president of Unicaja Malaga basketball team, refereed in La Liga from 1988 to 2003, at which point he would have had crossover with Negreira. He then returned to the refereeing scene in 2011, spending a decade as part of the CTA himself, before leaving in 2021.
Speaking to Onda Cero, as carried by Marca, Lopez Nieto explained that he was in charge of choosing which referees took charge of games, not Negreira.
“I was responsible for the designations and Negreira had nothing to do with it. I’ll say it now and in front of any judge, Negreira in 16 years had no influence on anything.”
Lopez Nieto had also dismissed the idea back in April.
“I was a referee with Negreira, and he has never said anything to me about refereeing.”
“I think it’s all a setup and nothing will be found.”
The CTA has claimed that Negreira’s role was representative, and did not hold any power.
“I guarantee you that they are not going to get anything out of the referees during the time that I refereed. I understand that you don’t believe it, but Negreira was a vase. [his role was decorative]”
Negreira was paid between €7m and €8m over 17 years between 2001 and 2018 by Barcelona, which is currently being investigated by Spanish police. A judge has ordered that they investigate systemic corruption, and are also working on establishing whether Negreira may have had a say in which referees were promoted or relegated from La Liga and Segunda, thus influencing their financial rewards.
Lopez Nieto won the Guruceta award, a Marca prize handed out to the best referee, on four occasions, and the best referee award handed out by Don Balon on four occasions.